Just In Time
by Shire Folk
Summary: It's Thanksgiving and Kairi's getting everybody together for a wonderful dinner, but Sora's not around and nobody's heard from him in a week. Kairi's worried, because he might not find out a secret she's been keeping from him.


_Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I'm thankful for my baby nephew and for the Winnipeg Jets, playing their first regular season game in the NHL in fifteen years since the team was relocated to Phoenix, Arizona._

_On another note, this has absolutely nothing to do with __**The Annals of Darkness**__._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Disney._

-K-H-

**Just In Time**

"Mommy, when's Daddy getting home?"

A woman in her middle twenties looked down at the six-year-old child walking next to her. The woman was dressed simply in a white sundress with a yellow sash around her waist, the trailing edge of the dress patterned with flowers of a deep navy blue. She smiled down at the girl, indigo eyes warm underneath tresses of the colour of berries she'd just put into her cart. "Don't worry Akemi, Daddy's going to be home in time for Thanksgiving."

"But he's been gone a whole week Mommy!" the girl, with bright blonde hair and deep cerulean eyes, protested. "Daddy's never been gone that long before!"

_Actually, he has,_ Kairi thought privately as her hand withdrew from the basket of cranberries, _but you either weren't born or were too young to remember it._ Pushing the thought away, Kairi glanced further down the aisle. "Oh dear. Akemi, go and get your brother before he gets into the buckets of gummi worms." Like a gazelle, her blonde daughter leapt away to keep her younger sibling from innocently stealing.

The woman sighed a little as she smiled at her two children, patting her stomach. She looked at the jar of pickles in her cart, and her eyes strayed to the cranberries. There was going to be an unusual addition to their Thanksgiving supper this year, at least for her, and that thought was already making her mouth water. She still hadn't told her husband, yet, and Kairi fingered the ring on her left hand. A wide smile went to her lips and a girlish giggle escaped her mouth as she looked at the silver ring with its four sparkling white diamonds surrounding a middle pink one.

She still couldn't believe it sometimes. Seven years. Seven blissful, _happy_ years had passed a month ago in September; seven years of marriage between herself and the Keyblade Master, and Kairi _still_ found herself in the honeymoon stage of their relationship.

Akemi, in her white dress near to bursting with pink blossoms, returned with her younger brother, Kaito, in tow. The boy's hair was brown and unruly, a jumble of messy spikes that reminded Kairi of his father, except while the boy's father actually used gel to get his hair into that spiky nest, Kaito's was all natural. Kairi liked to amuse herself by telling Sora that the spikiness of his hair had become genetic and he passed it down. His eyes were bright and blue, and the five-year-old looked up at his mother as his sister stopped tugging on his arm. He stood before her, in a blue shirt and yellow shorts. "Yes Mommy?" he asked.

Kairi's smile had never left her face. "Come on kids," she said. "It's time to go home." They both beamed at her, and practically dragged the young mother towards the check-out line, where her purchases were all scanned, paid-for, and bagged.

"Can I carry one?" Kaito asked, seeing Kairi hand one of the lighter bags to his sister, looking up at his mother with a hopeful expression.

"I don't know," Kairi teased slowly, "they're a little heavy."

"I can do it!" Kaito said loudly, his tact that they were in a grocery store and should use his inside voice completely gone with his enthusiasm. "I'm stronger than I look! Hikaru says so all the time when I play with him."

Kairi hummed a laugh. "Okay sweetie," she told him, "you can have one."

Akemi sighed and her voice escaped with a sing-song tone. "It'll be too hea-vy."

"No it's not!" Kaito snapped, holding onto the bag that Kairi gave him. She'd tried to lighten it as much as possible, moving some of the heavier items out of it and into the two that she was still carrying, but it still looked as if it might be too heavy for the child. His arms were quivering, but he refused to show weakness to his older and, though he loathed it, _bigger_ sister.

Together the three strolled out into the sunshine of Destiny Islands, the breeze blowing through the trees and carrying with it the smell of the sea and the cries of the gulls. The air was warm and the sunlight bright, bouncing off the blue waves of the sea that was hiding behind hills and trees in the volcanic island's geography. A gummi ship flew overhead, heading for the gummi port in the centre of the island, near to town hall and Festival Square.

Akemi began to walk backwards along the road with her face towards the ship. "Wow!" she said, awed. "Do you think that's Daddy's ship?"

"Nah," Kaito said quickly. "Daddy's ship is black and red, that one's…not."

Akemi smirked at him. "Forget your colours already Kaito?"

The boy flushed. "I di' not!" he retorted. "I jus' didn't get a good look at it."

His sister laughed. "Kai forgot his colours! Kai forgot his colours!"

"I did not Mi! Mommy!"

Kairi sighed. "Akemi stop picking on your brother. Can _you_ tell me what colour ship it was?"

She quickly shook her head, but that didn't keep her from muttering, "He still forgot his colours."

Kairi smiled in a way that she discovered that she'd picked up since becoming a mother, a sort of wicked way that tormented her kids in ways it could never have tormented anyone besides her family. "I seem to remember that last year it took you until January to completely remember all the colours in the rainbow," she reminded Akemi, "even though your father and I had been going through the colours with you since you were three." The blonde looked up, aghast that her mother had actually heard her.

"But there were so many all at once!" she whined. "Red and blue and yellow and purple—"

"Violet," Kaito corrected her, smugly.

The girl made a frustrated groan. "There's too many colours!"

Kairi laughed and looked down fondly at her daughter and started to sing. "_Red and yellow and green and brown and scarlet and black and ochre and peach and ruby and olive and violet and faun and lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve and cream and crimson and silver and rose and azure and lemon and russet and grey and purple and white and pink and orange and blue._"

Kaito looked up at her, huffing with the bag he was using both hands to carry. "Are there really that many, Mommy?"

"And a thousand more!" she exclaimed. "Like sapphire and honey and cardinal and teal and aqua and evergreen and emerald and amethyst and periwinkle!" she finished triumphantly. "There are as many colours as there are stars in the big sable sky at night."

_And how bright that sky is now._

It was been ten years since the defeat of Xemnas, and after a full year of peace Maleficent had risen from the shadows again in another attempt to gain Kingdom Hearts. What the witch hadn't counted on was that Sora, Riku, and Kairi had been training in using their Keyblades and in working magic all year. Maleficent had been handily defeated by the trio within a month. It went even smoother especially with the unexpected aid from Roxas and Naminé, the pair somehow gaining bodies and hearts of their own during a critical battle against the Phantom Blot. The Keyblade had something to do with it, Kairi knew, but that was all any of them really knew.

Since that conflict, King Mickey had recommended that they continue to patrol the worlds, just making regular checkups to ensure that darkness wasn't trying to do more than usual and that Heartless weren't appearing. For the most part, the Heartless had disappeared, but they all knew that it was only a matter of time before some person got a little too ambitious for their own good and began to cause trouble for the worlds at large.

And so they'd patrolled. Sometimes Sora would go off and adventure, seeing new worlds and revisiting old friends, and sometimes it would be King Mickey or Riku or any one of them. In the past, Kairi had accompanied Sora, even after they were married and for awhile while she was pregnant with Akemi. They even toured the worlds when Akemi was only a few months old so that Sora could 'show off' his princesses to all of their excited friends. She'd laughed at him, but only letting him know how much she too revelled in displaying their baby girl. Radiant Garden had come calling once, before she and Sora had gotten engaged, trying to get her to assume the throne and take over for the provisional democratic government that had been set up in the royal family's absence, but she'd flabbergasted them all by announcing to those who had come calling that she was in a relationship with the Keyblade Master, in love with him and the world that had become her home, and had engaged in premarital sex with Sora.

"_As far as I understand it_," she had said, "that _is something that you don't like Princesses to be doing, though it's not illegal. Don't take this personally, but I don't want to be your Queen, and if you press the issue I may just decided to forget to take a few pills and Sora and I will produce a bastard child and you'll have to publicly renounce me, though I will, of course, continue to defend your world from the Heartless should they return. I love the Garden, and I'd hate to see it fall, but I don't want the responsibility of ruling it and will not take it. From what I hear, your ruling council is doing a fine job…_"

The next month when the ambassadors came into her home again, it was with a formal apology for trying to force her into a life she didn't want, flowers, and a proposal to turn their legislative council into a parliamentary system in which she would remain as Head of State, and go through coronation as Queen, but would have a Governor General to act in her stead in all official matters so that she could still live on Destiny Islands with the life she had. Kairi suspected that Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, and King Mickey might have had a few words with them, but graciously accepted their counter-proposal. She had then taken a great deal of delight in showing off her engagement ring, having only had it on her finger for a week, an engagement which would now make Sora Prince Regent of Radiant Garden upon her coronation and their marriage. Those two events were coordinated, with several arguments and a few hysterical tears and much shouting from Selphie at the dress designs, so that the Garden could crown her Queen, and then she could walk down the aisle and become Sora's forever. She had fought tooth and nail to end the day with her wedding.

Ten months later, she had given birth to a beautiful baby girl. Fifteen months after that, the couple had a son too.

Kairi smiled with hidden glee as she and her children continued down the street to their house. She couldn't _wait_ for Sora to get home from his rounds.

-K-H-

Monday morning came bright and sunny; the weather just like it had been for the past three days. Kairi had gotten the turkey out of the freezer the night before, and the big bird was sitting and soaking in her kitchen sink. Akemi and Kaito were both sitting at the kitchen table, eyes as bright as the lamplight dripping onto their hair. Akemi's hair covered her head in raiment of freshly spun gold every morning, and Kairi still couldn't understand at times why her daughter had blonde hair. The children were only half-done their breakfast of cereal when knocking came from the front door.

Kairi opened it, a cup of coffee in her other hand with sleep still in her eyes. Sleep left them in moments as a big smile came to her face. "Happy Thanksgiving Kairi," said Riku, the tall, silver-haired man leaning down to give her a hug in greeting.

"Oh, happy Thanksgiving Riku," Kairi replied, coming into the hug and being careful not to spill coffee onto her friend's back. They pulled back, and Riku gave Kairi's mug of coffee a significant look. She smiled in understanding, seeing as how Riku was now putting his hand behind him, as if trying to keep something back, and Kairi put down her coffee on a ledge in the wall.

Riku moved, and a brown-haired, green-eyed girl jumped onto the red-head. "Happy Thanksgiving Kairi!" Selphie shrieked, crushing Kairi against her chest in one of her infamous hugs. Kairi brought her arms around her best friend, though she was still sure that her face would turn as red as her hair before Selphie had any inclination of letting go.

When that finally did happen, Kairi turned to look at the two young children that were with Riku and Selphie. There was a boy with silver hair and green eyes, five years old, glancing down at his shoes, and behind him was their little three-year-old girl. Kairi smiled. "It's nice to see you again Hikaru," Kairi said, patting the boy on the head. "You and your sister sure are getting big. I swear, you're bigger every day."

"Happy Thanksgiving Kairi," he mumbled, having learned from his parents that she preferred to be called by her name rather than Mrs. Takashi or 'Kaito's Mom'. He quickly looked up at his father. "Can I go play with Kaito now?"

"He hasn't finished breakfast yet, Hikaru," Kairi began quickly. She had barely finished saying those words, however, when her son rushed into the hallway from the kitchen.

"I'm done!" he shouted. "Hey Hikaru! I'll race you to the tree in my backyard! Readysetgo!"

The two boys took off, thundering through the hallway and past the kitchen, living room, and stairs to reach the family room at the back of the house and the door to the Takashi family's backyard.

Riku chuckled as he watched them go. "Just like me and Sora," he said wistfully.

"Yeah, well you'd better not still be acting like you're five Riku," his wife said. "One little boy is enough."

Kairi gave her best friend a sympathetic smile. "Hey, you've got it easy Selph; Sora's _always_ been a child." She looked down at the little girl trying to hide behind her mother's legs. "Hi Mia," Kairi offered with a sweet look, "would you like to come inside?" The girl nodded her head slowly.

Selphie gave her daughter a patient smile and asked her, "Isn't there something you'd like to say to Kairi Mia?"

The girl just stared at Kairi, wide-eyed. "Still being shy?" Kairi asked, closing the door behind the trio as they finally came in.

"Yeah," Riku sighed. "When are the others getting here, Your Majesty?"

"Stop that," Kairi answered, giving Riku a light shove in response to his mock bow. He didn't even budge, his footing strong as a rock's. "Roxas and Naminé should be around close to eleven; Naminé wants to help with the turkey, and Anne and my parents should be coming by around then too." Her voice lowered a little and she bit her bottom lip slightly before grasping her coffee. "Have you heard from Sora?"

Riku could see the anxiety in her face and wanted nothing more than to remove it, but he shook his head. "No, I haven't."

"Why?" Selphie asked. "What is it?"

"He normally calls home every two days," Kairi mumbled, "but he hasn't been gone for longer than a week in a long time, and he hasn't called all week either. I'm starting to worry."

"You know he can take care of himself Kairi," Riku told her, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. Kairi glanced at one of the pictures hanging in her front hall; it was a picture of her and Sora after their wedding, Sora giving the newly crowned Queen a highly undignified piggy-back ride.

"Yeah I know," she replied, "but I just can't help it."

Selphie suddenly grasped her arm through the robe Kairi was wearing. "We just need to get your mind off of that husband of yours," she declared. "Come on! To the kitchen we go! You probably haven't even had breakfast yet."

-K-H-

Roxas and Naminé arrived a few hours later, bringing with them their twin six-year-old boys, Katsu and Kichiro. It was Naminé's fault that they were both named so similarly. If she hadn't been as high as she was after giving birth to the pair, she likely would have objected much more strongly than she had. It truly was Roxas' victory. Both blond boys went out into the backyard to play with Hikaru and Kaito, and Akemi went out to join them. Soon they had devised some sort of game in which Kaito and Kichiro were evil wizards who had kidnapped the princess Akemi (which all of their parents except for Kairi found funny), and Katsu and Hikaru were trying to save the lady fair.

Twenty minutes later, Akemi got bored of sitting in her little 'tower' defined by four jackets on the grass and watching the four boys go at it with pretend magic spells and toy swords, got up, 'broke down' the door to her tower, and helped Katsu and Hikaru gang up on Kaito and Kichiro. Kairi found that part hilarious.

"Oh Hikaru," she declared in a bad attempt of swooning after a few seconds had passed with Kaito, Katsu, and Kichiro lying 'dead' on the grass, "you have saved me! My knight in shining armour." She came closer, as if she was going to kiss his cheek, and Hikaru suddenly backed away in abject horror.

"Ew! No!" he cried, scrambling away on his hands and knees, gaining howls of laughter from the audience.

The grandparents showed up in the midst of this, Sora's (and, technically, Roxas') mother Anne, and Kairi's (and Naminé's) adoptive parents Daisuke and Hannah. The three men now in the house elected to stay in the backyard and play with the kids, while the women returned to the kitchen. Mia stayed inside with the mothers and grandmothers, and Selphie doted on her shy daughter.

"How are things?" Kairi asked Naminé while the pair stuffed the turkey's cavity with the breading. "Work going okay?"

"Oh yes," Naminé replied, shifting the rectangular glasses she now wore with her wrist. "I just won a settlement for a couple that believed a contractor had breached the terms of their contract."

"What did the contractor do that the couple didn't want?" Kairi asked.

"Installed a tub the couple didn't ask for into their bathroom while he was redoing it. I don't know why they complained at getting a Jacuzzi and not being charged for it, but they did," Naminé answered. She sighed. "I was going to tell my boss that I didn't want the case, but the couple were willing to pay a lot in legal fees so I took it. Got the settlement pretty easily, and I think, given how high my success rate is, all the judges don't want to try denying me because they know I'm sister to the Queen of Radiant Garden, even though neither of us cares."

The phone rang, and Kairi quickly looked to it while Anne was able to reach out and pick it up on the second ring. "Is it Daddy, Grandma?" Akemi asked. The woman shook her head while listening to the caller before politely telling the person that Sora wasn't there and that she didn't know when he'd be back and hung up.

Kairi's eyes dropped and she washed her hands of the stuffing, drying them quickly before running them through her locks of cranberry hair. She could feel her hair wilting. Why wasn't Sora calling?

Her sister and mother saw the unease in Kairi's face and Naminé quickly gave Kairi a hug from behind. "Don't worry sis," she said. "Sora's the toughest one of us all. Wherever he is, I'm sure he's just fine."

"I know," Kairi told her, "I just wish he was here. It's Thanksgiving."

"I know Kairi," her mother-in-law said softly, "I know. He's not here, but you never know when he could walk in that door. I'm sure you remember the day ten years ago when you, Sora, and Riku walked through my front door with Donald, Goofy, King Mickey, Pluto, and Jiminy Cricket, completely unannounced."

Kairi smiled at the memory. Yes, they had walked in unannounced and uninvited, and shocked the poor widow who'd been worrying about her son with the biggest surprise of her life. "Come on!" Anne said. "There's a lot more to do. Really, Kairi, you'd think you'd never hosted a turkey dinner before."

"Hopefully there will be enough turkey," Selphie said, looking out the window at the boys playing in the yard.

"That's why I've got my own turkey cooking back home," Anne announced proudly. "Sora, Riku, Roxas, and their boys could probably polish off a whole turkey themselves. The rest of us need the other." Kairi couldn't help but laugh. Her mother-in-law was probably right.

"Kairi?" Hannah asked suddenly, looking around the kitchen. "Where's the turnip?"

"Oh no Mom," she said, turning on her mother. "There is no turnip in this house. No one who lives here likes it."

"But how will my grandchildren know if they like it or not if they never try it?" Hannah asked, stunned at how her daughter was denying her children the choice of liking the root vegetable.

"Then they can have it when we go to your house for Christmas," Naminé told Hannah, the exact same situation applying to the blonde's household. "We all know that you were the only one out of us and Dad who liked turnip, and we put up with having it once a year because you liked it, but that doesn't mean we need to cook something for our kids that we don't even like. It's like why you don't cook asparagus. _We_ like it, but Dad doesn't, so he doesn't cook it."

Their mother had to agree, but she was still disappointed that there would be no turnip at the table. She'd just have to get an _extra_ big one for Christmas dinner and force large helpings onto her daughters for apparently lying to her for the last few years about having turnip at Thanksgiving so they didn't need to have it for Christmas.

-K-H-

The boys came in at around three, some of them more exhausted than others, and all of them proceeded into the living room to catch the Blitzball game that was just starting, between the eternal rivals the Felra Furies and the Straca Stormbringers. As the game wore on and the conversations continued Kairi prepared herself for the inevitable, that her husband would be missing Thanksgiving this year. Anne left with Riku and Roxas, practically dragging the pair out by their ears and giving Roxas' twins something to laugh about with how their grandmother could be. That woman, Kairi, or their wives were the only people that could have dragged them away from the spherevision set and their beers.

The three returned a half-hour later, Roxas and Riku carrying Anne's cooked turkey just as Kairi's was nearly ready to come out of the oven. As if their muscles hadn't been used again, the two men were then drafted to extend the large table in Kairi's special dining room, only used for Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays, and her and Sora's anniversary dinners. It was an eccentric need of the red-head's, that she needed to have a special dining room and dining table that was only ever used for special occasions, with all of the fine china and good wine glasses in cabinets in the same room. She and Sora had argued over it more than a few times, especially when he and their friends had wanted to play poker and drink heavily out of sight of the kids. The dining room was the perfect out of the way place, since _nobody_ went into that room except on special occasions. Kairi's put her foot down and said no, but Sora'd persisted on at least a compromise; they wouldn't use the dining room for bi-weekly poker, but Kairi would then agree to stay out of the man-cave Sora had carefully taken three years to sculpt out of a moderately-sized room in the basement. She'd agreed to that after a little persuasion.

The kids helped set the table, putting down places for the fifteen people at the extended table. Even though Sora wasn't going to be present, Kairi still insisted that his spot at the head of the table receive a table setting. Nobody questioned her decision since it seemed appropriate.

Kaito hopped up at the head of the table while his mother brought a large bowl of gravy into the dining room. "What are you doing sitting there Kaito?" Kairi asked, moving past her son to set the gravy onto the table.

"Daddy's not here," he answered, "so that makes _me_ the man of the house, right? So that means I get to sit in Daddy's chair."

"Guess again little man," Anne told him, coming in with a full bowl of cranberry sauce, a big smile on her face. "That chair's always going to belong to your father." Kaito pouted as his grandmother shooed him out of the chair.

The table was laid, and the entire dining room and kitchen smelled of turkey and stuffing and gravy and cranberries and mashed potatoes and asparagus and broccoli and carrots. It was nearing six-forty-five when everyone in the household was seated at the table. Sora's place at the head of the table was left blank, and Kairi took the place at the right hand of the head. Normally she took the foot of the table, but with so many people they'd decided to keep the families sitting together. On Kairi's right was Akemi, and across from the scarlet-haired woman was her son. Next to him sat Hikaru, followed by Riku, Mia, and Selphie. The three grandparents were next, and then Roxas and Naminé sat together, and their twin boys were sitting at Akemi's left.

Hikaru's eyes were wide and he was sniffing the plates of turkey in front of him with gusto. Melted butter was thick in the mashed potatoes, making them thickly creamy. Steam wafted up from the stuffing, and melted butter and pepper covered the asparagus and carrots. A jug of milk and pitcher of grape juice were on the table, ready to be poured into the kids' small glasses, while bottles of both red and white wine sat, uncorked and awaiting their turn to temper the thirsts of the adults.

The silver-haired boy began to reach out for some of the turkey, but Riku quickly stopped him. "Hikaru," he said, a little note of sternness in his voice that his son listened to, "at your auntie Kairi's house, they say what they're thankful for at Thanksgiving."

"Thanks Riku," Kairi said, beginning to pour the wine. This would be her last glass for months, so she wanted to make sure that she had it. "Can you pour the milk and juice please? And which wine would you like, the white or the red? The red's from a very nice set of Pinot Noir from d'Artagnan, and the white's a Chardonnay Cinderella sent me for Christmas three years ago."

"I'll have the Chardonnay, thanks," Riku told her after conferring with his son and Kairi's whether they'd like juice or milk, to which they both replied milk.

When all the drinks were poured, Kairi turned to Kaito. "Would you like to start us off Kaito?"

"Okay Mommy," he said. His face was bright with a smile despite the small blush of embarrassment he got at being called on. "I'm thankful for my friends, especially Hikaru. I'm thankful that he's here and gets to share this supper with us." He looked at the silver-haired boy, and Hikaru ducked his head, suddenly wary now that every eye was on him.

He blushed as he spoke. "I'm thankful for having been invited to be here," he said, his eyes flicking up at his 'auntie' Kairi. "The food looks and smells really good." Kairi smiled and giggled in her throat.

"I'm thankful for having such a good cook for a friend, a crazy wife, and two great kids," Riku said, giving Selphie a kiss on the cheek. The brunette rolled her eyes even with a huge grin on her face.

"I'm thankful for having such a rich fool of a husband," she replied. Selphie turned Riku's face towards her and they stared, smiling at each other, for a couple of seconds. "I love you."

"I love you too," he answered. "Mm." They smooched.

"Ju!" exclaimed Mia.

Selphie laughed. "And Mia's thankful for juice."

Daisuke chuckled. "I'm thankful that the islands had such an excellent harvest this year and for this _excellent_ Pinot Noir."

"Dad!" Naminé gasped. "You weren't supposed to start drinking yet!"

There wasn't a hint of remorse in his answering chuckle.

"I'm thankful for two beautiful daughters and four wonderful grandchildren," Hannah said, giving her husband a look. He laughed again.

"For having two beautiful daughters-in-law, and four wonderful grandchildren," Anne added.

"Hey, Mom!" Roxas cried, jokingly affronted. "Thanks a lot," he grumbled underneath the snorting Kairi, Naminé, and Riku made. "Well _I'm_ thankful that I get to live with my beautiful wife and wonderful kids everyday instead of being with this clown of a mother."

Anne just chuckled at his jibe. It had no effect on her good mood.

"I'm thankful for the peaceful life we've earned," Naminé told them, "so that we can raise our kids in the world we want." Roxas and Riku both nodded.

"For food…" said Katsu,

"…and play…" added Kichiro,

"…and the royal way!" they finished together. It was an in-joke of theirs, one which only they understood and found funny.

"Well that's something I'm really thankful for," Akemi spoke up softly, looking at the empty place at the head of the table. "That wherever Daddy is, he's protecting people and making sure bad things don't come and hurt them or us."

The smile Kairi had when she suddenly drew her daughter into a tight hug was the biggest she'd had in a while. Nothing Akemi had said before during Thanksgiving had touched her like this year's proclamation had. "And I am so thankful and _proud_ to have children like you and Kaito."

"Me too."

Every head turned to the open doorway to the dining room. Standing there, wearily leaning against the frame, a huge smile on his face and in his cerulean eyes underneath a mess of spiked chocolate hair, was Sora. He was dressed in a dark green golf shirt and a pair of beige pants, and his hair looked a little damp, as if he'd had a shower not too long ago. Akemi and Kaito both shouted, "Daddy!" and leapt from their chairs to give him giant hugs.

"We missed you!" Akemi said into his chest, hugging her father tightly.

"Oh, I missed you too!" Sora said, heaving both of them into his arms and crushing them against his chest. "I hope I'm not too late for supper Kai."

She shook her head, and Selphie answered, "You're showing your usual cunning in showing up just in time for supper Sora. I swear whenever we invite you over you wait until your nose can smell the supper getting onto my table before you come in."

"It's true," Riku said. "I once caught him hiding in a tree in our backyard while I was barbequing. Jerk said he was napping, but I knew he was waiting until just before those steaks were done before he would have popped out and asked to stay."

Selphie pursed her lips. "I always thought that it was strange when Riku suddenly told me that you'd be having supper with us."

"Wait, that was the day I was doing breaded calamari," Kairi realized.

Anne made a face. "Oh, I'm so sorry Kairi, but Sora does not eat squid."

He gave her a sheepish look as he set their two children back on the ground. "Sorry Kairi, but I'd rather take on Master Yen Sid, Merlin, Mickey, and Excalibur all at once than eat squid."

"Daddy," Kaito said before his mother could speak up, "why didn't you call?"

Sora pulled his phone out of his pocket, showing that it was broken in two pieces. "Huey, Dewey, and Louie got a hold of it," he told him, though his words were really to Kairi in an unspoken apology. "I sent a message to Cid, telling him to let you know that I'd had to take care of a little trouble Mortimer was trying to stir up and I was going to be a couple more days, but I hoped to be home in time for Thanksgiving, but I guess you didn't get the message."

"No, we didn't," Kairi said, accepting his apology but making a mental note to talk to Cid tomorrow about not giving his Queen an important message from her husband.

Roxas laughed. "Oh, Cid's in trouble now." Sora chuckled and settled in his spot at the head of the table while his kids sat back down. He quickly gave Kairi a lasting kiss, which she returned lovingly. Her heart was pounding and her emotions ran high, pure bliss settling into her at his touch. The grandparents couldn't help but sigh at the sight of them.

When Sora finally pulled away from her, his eyes lit up. "Ooh, you got out d'Artagnan's Pinot Noir, what's the occasion?" he joked, pouring himself a glass while looking at his lovely wife. He frowned slightly when his eyes went lower than her face, to an item on the table. "Kairi, why are there pickles on the table?"

"Because I've been hankering to have pickles and cranberry sauce for a couple of days now," she whispered. When Sora frowned in confusion, she continued in the hushed voice. "Remember our anniversary?"

Sora paused, and then his eyebrows flew up as understanding flooded his brain. "Are you serious?" he asked, emotion barely contained.

Kairi's grin threatened to break her face. "There's one other thing I have to be thankful for," she said, settling her hand over her stomach.

Selphie shrieked. Naminé gasped, a huge smile lighting up her face. Roxas and Riku each gave Sora sly smirks. Daisuke looked at his adopted daughter with amused pleasure while a hand went over his wife's ecstatic mouth. The children were all puzzled, and Anne chuckled and raised her wine glass in a toast. "Happy Thanksgiving everyone."

"Happy Thanksgiving!"

-K-H-

_Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Yes, to the Americans, I know that you guys celebrate it a month late because of your story about the Native Americans providing the pilgrims with food so that they would not starve during the long winter and all that jazz, but we north of you celebrate it in October to give thanks for the bounty of the year's harvest._

_Review if you like it please._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


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